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Le Poinant piracy
This event occurred during April-May 308 in the southern Futuronian Ocean off the Angliyaan coast. On 13th of April 308, Aethelnian newspaper Aethelnian News (issue no. 83) printed a story about Piracy. Pirates had stormed an Aethelnian luxury yacht, named Le Poinant, off the coast of Angliyaa, seized control, and had taken it's 30-strong crew captive. The Aethelnian military said it had forces in the area and that it would be launching an operation to take back the ship and free the hostages. At the time, Le Poinant was heading from Merlinburgh to the Meridian Ocean when pirates raided it off the coast of Angliyaa. A spokesman for the boat's owner, the Compagnie des Iles du Poinant, said there were no holidaymakers on board, and that most of the crew were Aethelnians. Aethelnian Chancellor Andrej Andropopopopopov at the time described the act of piracy as a "blatant act of piracy", stating: "We have relatively large military means in this area. We are mobilised to obtain the release of the hostages as quickly as possible." Chancellor Andropopopopopov further said he hoped the hostages would be freed "in the coming hours and minutes". The Aethelnian Foreign Office said in a statement an "interministerial crisis cell" had been set up and it was in close contact with the yacht's owners. Pirate attacks regularly disrupt shipping in the southern Futuronian Ocean off the Angliyaan coast line, according to the Aethelnian Maritime Bureau, which reported some 31 cases of piracy in the area in year 307. The story was also covered in Utania-based newspaper Zeitgeist News on 13th of April 08. Ambassador George Temana, Utania's chief diplomat in Aethelnia, reported to have spoken to the Chancellor's office and passed on the President's offer to deploy a unit of Utania's elite counter-terrorism Tokapé troops within hours. The Ambassador further said he was informed Utania's second battlegroup, currently deployed to the Meridian ocean, had been ordered to the Futuronian Ocean to provide "whatever support is necessary" to Aethelnian forces to "curb the scourge of piracy" in the region. Mr. Patrick O'Reilly at the Institute for Maritime Safety, Counter-Raider Action Group (IMS-CRAP), said: "Pirates are simply thieves. It isn't like the traditional days of pre- and post-plague piracy, when pirates could often match the firepower of navies because they usually were illegitimate agents of national navies. Today's pirates are little more than raiders: seize the boat, take the money and any valuable cargo and run before the coast guard arrives. "That said, there have been killings, there have been millions of crowns in losses, and though the pirates are hard to track, our agency has been impressing upon coast guard and navy policy-makers for some time that a greater military presence off the Angliyaan, Sea of Eulos, South Bay coasts and other seas will deter these thieves." Mr O'Reilly said Utania's second battlegroup would "unlikely" be the solution to the Angliyaan problem, as its overwhelming firepower would be "like chasing a cockroach with a bat," since the pirates used speedboats. Pursuit by helicopter from the battlegroup's helicopter frigates, he said, was a "reasonable" strategy. On 9th of May, the Aethelnian federal govt press office let it be known to the general public, that the take-over of the Aethelnian-flag luxury yacht "Le Poinant" by pirates in the southern Futuronian Ocean, had been successfully ended by the Royal Aethelnian Navy. The federal chancellor's office earlier informed the gathered press, that chancellor Andropopopopopov was thankful for the assistance provided by the Utanian battle group in the Meridian Ocean. No questions were answered by the spokesperson about the exact nature of the assistance. The Aethelnian minister of defense informed, that several Aethelnian navy frigates were involved in the rescue operation. Rumours quickly spread on the internet, that the Royal Aethelnian Navy had used considerable firepower i.e. armed navy helicopters to annihilate the pirates in question on Angliyaan soil. No ransom money is said to have been paid for the release of the hostages. Category: Aethelnia Category: Military Category: Utania Category: Events